Juice Pulp Pizza Crusts

As it’s the start of Spring Equinox, and many of you will be detoxing, I probably shouldn’t be doing a post about Pizza. But before you dismiss it and run back to your Master Cleanse, there is some method to my seemingly anti-detox madness! If you are having a bit of a cleanse, I’m guessing you will be juicing a lot. And what will you be doing with all that left over nutritious juice pulp? Why, you’ll be turning it into these yummy Juice Pulp Pizza Crusts of course! And because they’re dried, you can store them in an airtight container and have a big pizza and dvd night when you’re detox is over. Always nice to have something to look forward to, isn’t it?

One of the best things about having a dehydrator is nothing ever gets wasted. I always used to hate throwing away the left over pulp after juicing. It just seemed so wrong chucking all that fibrous goodness in the compost bin. I mean, I know it makes lovely soil, but I’d rather it make my body lovely first! Now after juicing I keep the pulp, and by adding a few other ingredients and popping it in the dehydrator, you can miraculously turn it into burgers, crackers, wraps or these – Juice Pulp Pizza Crusts. Yeah, yeah…I know what you’re thinking – “That’s not pizza! That’s a triangle shaped cracker!”. Well, you could be right. But they are thin and crispy, and when topped with tomato sauce, macadamia cheese, olives, garlic, basil and black pepper – they taste pretty smili- wait – no they don’t. They don’t taste anything like pizza. The action of eating it and the shape in your hand is familiar, but in a blind fold test I don’t think you’d be shouting out “Dominos!”. They are extremely tasty and satisfying though, and you can actually get up off the sofa after you’ve eaten them. Your body doesn’t have to deal with sorting out all the greasy cheese or refined carbs, and without wanting to sound like a cheesy (‘scuse the pun) advert, they are literally “bursting with flavour!”. (Can’t believe I just said that…).

These gorgeous Juice Pulp Pizza Crusts are the perfect base for you to top with whatever you fancy. I spread creamy red pepper sauce on mine, with avocado, olives, red onion, cashew parmesan and some freshly picked parsley from the garden. Bella!

Never waste the nutritious left over pulp from your juicer again! This recipe calls for ‘ground almonds’, and I find the best kind to use in this is pre-dehydrated almond pulp left over from making nut milk. It is very crunchy and gives these pizza crusts a fantastic bite. If you haven’t got any dehydrated almond pulp to hand though, don’t worry as fresh almonds ground in your coffee grinder or pre-bought will also work well. I’ve used cumin in the recipe, just because I love it, but admittedly it’s not very italian! So feel free to substitute the cumin for oregano or any other mediterranean herbs.

Ingredients

2 cups of fresh vegetable pulp (from making roughly 1 pint of juice)

5 sun-dried tomatoes, finely chopped

1 small carrot, grated

1 cup ground almonds (see note above!)

1 cup ground pumpkin seeds (ground in a coffee grinder)

⅓ cup ground chia (ground in a coffee grinder)

½ red onion, finely chopped

3 tbsp tamari

2 tbsp olive oil

1 tbsp cumin

1 tsp sea salt.

Instructions

Place all the ingredients in a large mixing bowl.

Either using a spoon or your hands, mix all the ingredients thoroughly (I find using my hands works best!).

Once mixed, scrape the mixture out onto a Teflex-lined dehydrator tray.

Press the mixture down and work it into a large flat circle, about a ¼” thick (think pizza!). You can also make it into little mini circles – get creative and have fun!

Roughly score the mixture with a sharp knife into 8 or 12 slices, depending on how big you want your slices.

Dehydrate the pizza at 115° for 8 hours, or over night. When the top is dry, flip it over and peel away the Teflex liner. Break the individual slices up and place back in the dehydrator for another 8-12 hours.

When they’re ready, they should be nice and dry and crunchy. Remove from the dehydrator and get topping!

Notes

Dehydrating may seem like a long winded thing to do, but it is actually a very stress free way of making food. Once the mix is in, you can just forget about it, and if it runs over an hour or two, nothing has really spoiled. The only thing is planning ahead. If you are wanting Pizza tomorrow night, get the mix in tonight and it will be ready and waiting for you the next day. Also, if you’re making crackers, it’s a good idea to make a big batch so you always have some on hand.